Attacks on the B’nai B’rith in Germany, Jewish fraternal order, were resumed today by Nazi papers.
The West Deutscher Beobachter carried a long leading article denouncing the B’nai B’rith as a “secret order against Aryans” and declared that the 1,500 members in Germany were “responsible for the bitter anti-German campaign abroad.”
The drive against the organization began last March with the arrest of Dr. Benno Walter, its vice-president. Dr. Walter was arrested March 2, ostensibly on the basis of a speech he made in Gladsbach January 8, but actually because he was head of the German B’nai B’rith. Immediately after the arrest B’nai B’rith lodges in Nuremberg, Koenigsburg, Elbing, Allenstein, Kottbus, Aschaffenburg and Stettin were raided by the Gestapoo, German secret police, and closed.
LODGES RAIDED
The B’nai B’rith building in Stettin was confiscated by police and turned over to the city. Other lodges were carefully searched for incriminating material against the fraternal organization and were practically ruined in the process.
Dr. Walter was held in a secret prison for over a month. All access to him was denied by police. No charges were preferred against him and finally he was released.
The vicious attack on the B’nai B’rith order in the Nazi paper seems to indicate that the drive will be resumed.
The Westfaelische Zeitung, which began a campaign urging German resort keepers to exclude all Jews whether native to Germany or foreigners, continued its attack today, demanding that they be excluded from all German beaches. Dortmund was singled out for attack by the Nazi paper, which bitterly attacked the city
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
